tbone4

Thanks, I've always read to soak chips, but never said either way about chunks.

I have never tried smoking in the kettle without the Smokenator, got scared off after watching an Alton Brown Good Eats episode on BBQ where he ended up demonstrating a fan system for the kettle to control the temp. Sounds like you have good success, so maybe I will give it a try. Man, pork butt sounds good. Look forward to the video.

I did a 7lb Boston Butt with mine a couple of weeks ago. Held temp around 250 for 6+ hours with some maintenance. Maintenance including mixing the coals around to knock the ash off (they give you a stirrer to do this with) and adding water to the pan. You can prevent some heat loss by sliding the cover to expose the smokenator but keeping your meat covered, doing your maintenance and then recovering. The only negatives I had were you basically had to use briquettes (it says you can use lump but you need to break that down into uniform sizes close to a briquette and I just don't have the time for that) and I did have to add more coals at about the 7 hour mark and found it a little difficult to get them into the holes. I guess this parallels my golf short game! I did end up dropping a briquette into the water pan which made for a little extra cleanup (but thankfully had no other effect). All in all not a bad toy to add to your arsenal.

Not sure if you've ever seen this before: http://www.kettlepizza.com/ It's an attachment to either the 18 1/2" or 22 1/2" Weber Kettle. I just got mine last week and cooked 4 pizzas on it last weekend with a nice crisp crust. The nice part is that everything that comes with it (unit itself, pizza pan, pizza stone, pizza peel) except the thermometer is made in the USA. I actually spoke with the owner and he said that if he could find a thermometer made in the USA he would use that too, it's just that no one makes them.

For years I have used wood chips (mainly hickory and apple) in the cast iron smoker box of my gasser smoker and always soaked the chips for at least 20 minutes. Now that I have switched over to the Akorn I am using lump charcoal with some wood chunks. Should I soak the chunks or just use them as is? Any recommendation?

For what's it's worth, here is the buffalo style sauce I use for my wings (bone in as well as boneless and buffalo chicken dip): 1 cup Hot Sauce (typically Frank's Red Hot or Texas Pete's) 1/2 stick of unsalted butter 1/3 cup red wine (Cabernet, Merlot or Pinot Noir as long as it's drinkable) 1 tsp white pepper salt and pepper to taste Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Simmer for 20-25 minutes to remove the alcohol (or leave in for a most festive occasion).

I have been tinkering with slow and low BBQ for years and thanks to the info on this site (as well as the Man Cave Foods videos on YouTube) I purchased the Chargriller Kamado Akorn this past weekend. I've been using Gas Smokers for years so this will be my first foray into world of slow and low with charcoal. Thanks for all the information so far, I look forward to contributing my 2 cents worth.